Thursday, December 21, 2006

To get you in the mood for Christmas, here's "No Man's Land" a story I wrote a couple of years back for Cafe Doom.

My great grandad always scared me. He died when I was 10. I’d never known him as a father, or even a grandfather. I’d never seen him in his prime, storming a machine gun post in Ypres. Even my older brothers had seen him when he still had two brain cells to rub together. But to me he was just this scary, smelly thing my parents rolled out for Christmas, Easter and Remembrance Day.

"Go and give Pop a kiss," they’d say, and I’d shudder.

He smelt of death. I didn’t realise it at the time, but that’s what I think of now. He was a man on the verge of death, and a man who had dealt death with his own hands.

Shane Jiraiya Cummings had this to say when I asked him why Brimstone Press decided to launch with two anthologies...

Leading with these titles is a step to gain wider recognition for the form, the genre, and these writers. Establishing a readership in the wider community requires someone to take that first step and expose the talents of these writers. If Brimstone Press didn't do it, who would? There is a tremendous wealth of ability in the small press speculative genres - horror, fantasy, and science fiction. We're looking to tap into this undercurrent of talent.